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Old 07-22-2017, 05:52 PM   #1
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Boondocking Question

Kitty and I never "boondock" with the 5th wheel. We have been invited to a music festival and will have to boondock. (No facilities at all) The event will be at an elevation of eight thousand feet and it gets cold at night. How does one run the furnace without 110 volt electricity?
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Old 07-22-2017, 06:00 PM   #2
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Propane and your trailer's 12v battery. BUT, it is likely you'll have to charge the battery (solar or generator) if you'll need to heat longer than 1 night.
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Old 07-22-2017, 06:06 PM   #3
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Do you have a residential fridge in the 5er?
How many batteries do you have?
What size (Ah rating)?

oldmanAZ is correct, you will need some way of charging your battery(s) each day.

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Old 07-22-2017, 06:23 PM   #4
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On a cool, not cold night, I will run the furnace once before we turn in. Then, I turn everything off while we are sleeping. Once you are in and under the covers or in a good sleeping bag, you should be fine until morning. Worst case, you run it again sometime during the night. As mentioned, your batteries will be your limiting factor.
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Old 07-22-2017, 06:49 PM   #5
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We use a Big Buddy propane heater that I tapped directly into my propane line. We rarely use our furnace even when we have electric hookup. Uses about half the propane and no battery consumption. We prefer it because it gives off a constant heat with no fan noise.
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Old 07-22-2017, 07:17 PM   #6
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Now I'm confused. Are you telling me my furnace will operate on 12 volt? The furnace fan is 110 volt. Without electricity, the furnace will ignite however the fan will not run. Is there some way to switch it to 12volt? No residential fridge, one battery.
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Old 07-22-2017, 07:26 PM   #7
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Just about everything in your trailer is 12 volt unless it is directly hooked to your 120 volt system. Water pump, refrigerator, exhaust fans, all lights and your furnace fan are 12 volt powered. Your converter keeps your battery charged which is why you always have 12 volt power.
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Old 07-22-2017, 07:29 PM   #8
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Now I'm confused. Are you telling me my furnace will operate on 12 volt? The furnace fan is 110 volt. Without electricity, the furnace will ignite however the fan will not run. Is there some way to switch it to 12volt? No residential fridge, one battery.
Sorry! This is the first time I've heard of a trailer furnace fan requiring 110v.
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Old 07-22-2017, 07:31 PM   #9
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Your air conditioner and microwave and tv are 120 volt. Just about everything else is 12 volt.
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Old 07-22-2017, 08:33 PM   #10
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Read the instruction manuals for your particular unit. You might be surprised what a person can learn from that. A furnace runs on 12 volt DC and the furnace fan too.
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Old 07-22-2017, 08:52 PM   #11
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The only reason I say the furnace fan is 110 volt is, back in January this year, we had an ice storm and the town was out of electricity for several days. I thought, we can move in the RV and have heat. Not so, furnace would ignite but fan would not come on. I have never gave it any thought or investigated the systems. I just assumed it was 110 volts. Now, I will get the manual out and read. If it is 12 volt, then I have another issue as the fan will not run.

Thank you to all for your input.

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Old 07-22-2017, 09:10 PM   #12
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Your trailer battery may be completely discharged. As others have said, there are several 12v systems that require a working battery, including the Propane Leak and CO detector and your break-away system.

Perhaps the place to start would be to remove your battery and have it tested. If it has been completely discharged for a long time, it may not hold a charge and need to be replaced.
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Old 07-23-2017, 10:46 AM   #13
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I stand corrected. I got the owners manual out. The furnace fan is 12 volt. Now I will try to determine why it did not come on back in January.
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Old 07-23-2017, 11:04 AM   #14
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I stand corrected. I got the owners manual out. The furnace fan is 12 volt. Now I will try to determine why it did not come on back in January.
You could first check your battery voltage with a voltmeter.

If your trailer has not been plugged into 'shore power' all this time and the battery was not disconnected, the systems you can't turn off (the 'parasitic' draws) will completely drain a fully charged battery in about a week. Drawing the battery completely down and leaving it that way will ruin it.
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Old 07-23-2017, 01:38 PM   #15
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The RV remains plugged to shore power all the time.
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Old 07-23-2017, 01:59 PM   #16
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Whatever the reason it didn't come on in January might be operator error.
Furnace fan will start first after TH is set at temp above current temp as it is also part of the burner. Heat switch has be on. Then propane has to be present for lighting the burner and heat will be felt from the registers. If it is working now why worry about the past. But may be the sail switch did hang or it might have been something else.
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Old 07-23-2017, 02:11 PM   #17
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If it works when plugged into shore power but not when you unplug, then you have a battery problem. When plugged in, the converter will generate the 12v to power the fan even if the battery is dead or disconnected. You either have a bad battery or a loose wire coming from it. Shouldn't be hard to trace with a multimeter. Ask a friend who has some experience to help you check it out. Pretty simple but can be a challenge if you don't have a basic understanding of the units electrical system.
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Old 07-23-2017, 02:12 PM   #18
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I may be wrong, but unless the fan is running, the furnace should not ignite. And, you do need a pretty much fully charged battery to get everything to work on a furnace.

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Old 07-24-2017, 11:46 AM   #19
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The RV remains plugged to shore power all the time.
Well it wasn't during the power outage.. so obviously you have a battery or converter problem.. and the furnace should never try to start until the fan runs for a min its a safety thing.. How is the water in your RV battery? are you keeping it topped up with DISTILLED water?
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Old 07-24-2017, 09:24 PM   #20
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We use a Big Buddy propane heater that I tapped directly into my propane line. We rarely use our furnace even when we have electric hookup. Uses about half the propane and no battery consumption. We prefer it because it gives off a constant heat with no fan noise.
I was under the impression that gas heaters needed some ventilation and thought they created humidity. Do you need to crack a window or turn on a vent?
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